Hamburger chain's ad makes franchisees blush — again

Hardee's has drawn criticism for its ads before, including ones that featured socialite Paris Hilton in a bathing suit eating a massive burger. Now another Hardee's promotion has been rejected as too racy for North Carolina's conservative consumers.

Another Hardee's promotion has been rejected as too racy for North Carolina's conservative consumers.

The Rocky Mount, N.C., company that is Hardee's largest franchisee is angry about TV ads for the fast-food chain's new Biscuit Holes.

Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which owns nearly 350 Hardee's, is refusing to run the ads, which also are drawing fire from the Parents Television Council.

The ads ask customers to help name the sweet treats, and offer suggestions such as "iced B-holes." In one ad, customers doing taste tests are asked to choose between the "A-holes" and the "B-holes."

In a letter to the council, Boddie-Noell chairman Ben Mayo Boddie wrote that he won't allow the ads to run in any markets that it controls, and that he has asked Hardee's parent, CKE Restaurants of California, also the owner of the Carl's Jr. chain on the West Coast, to drop the ads everywhere.

Hardee's has drawn criticism for its ads before, including ones that featured socialite Paris Hilton in a bathing suit eating a massive burger.